Danganronpa: Goodbye Despair

Chapter 69: REMNANTS OF DESPAIR

Investigation of Hope's Peak Academy (First Half)

As the only person who hasn't left the gymnasium yet, Hajime officially left through the same door the others went through earlier. But once Hajime re-entered the hallway, he was greeted with a new sight. The scenery had completely changed, it looked like he was on an entirely different floor.

Hajime: 'T-That's weird... this is the hallway I walked through to get to the gymnasium, but... it's clearly different. Is this... Monokuma's doing too? Is he trying to confuse us again?' He didn't know how Monokuma was doing it, but he keeps doing it over and over again. Although Monokuma was persistent, Hajime refused to fall for his trap. There's no way this will make him back down.

Although Hajime didn't know where he was, the previous hallway and classroom he found himself in earlier was located on the academy's first floor, and now he's on the fifth floor. Monokuma must've separated everyone and taken them to different floors. On the fifth floor, which was the top floor of the academy, there was a dojo, an indoor greenhouse, three separate classrooms, one of them being destroyed and covered in blood, as if people were murdered in it, and a biology lab. Thankfully for Hajime, it looked like one of his friends were taken to the same floor, he could see Sonia looking around as well.

Sonia: "H-Hajime! Thank goodness, I thought I was alone."

Hajime: "Yeah, same here. It looks like the others aren't here though."

Sonia: "Sadly, that sounds correct. But this hallway... there is a strange feeling to it, no? As if... an invisible wall has been erected to limit our movement... is it just me?"

Hajime: "No, I feel the same. Akane, Fuyuhiko, and Kazuichi must be on the other floors. But... how come you and I are here together?"

Sonia: "I do not know, but I have to admit... I am thankful to have you here with me." Her sweet and innocent smile just remined Hajime of how they first met. He felt somewhat hypnotised by her beauty and her status as a princess, but that changed when he got to know her properly. She just wanted to be treated like a normal person, something Kazuichi keeps failing to do. That might be one of the reasons why she doesn't really like him. "So... shall we search together?"

Hajime: "Yeah, I don't mind." With Sonia by his side, Hajime decided to search the dojo first. When they entered, they were captivated by the unique design. Half of the room looked like the inside of a traditional Japanese dojo, but the other half looked similar to outside. The outside half had a concrete walkway that led to a small temple-like building, and cherry blossom trees were located on each side of that half of the room.

Sonia: "Is this... a dojo?"

Hajime: "It's full of strange things that make me think there's no way we're inside a school."

Sonia: "Perhaps it is a mistake to expect the inside of this building to make sense."

Hajime: "Hm? What's this?" Sonia turned her head towards Hajime and saw that he was looking at a book on the ground. "Is this a manga?"

Manga for Morons! The History of Hope's Peak Academy, by Monokuma.

Sonia: "Why is a manga with such a suspicious-looking title laying out in the open like this?" As Hajime picked up the book, Monokuma popped up out of nowhere and startled them.

Monokuma: "Puhuhuhu! Let's start with history first, class! Reading manga is the third best way to learn about history! What's that? What's the first? That depends on the person!"

Hajime: 'So just as I thought, Monokuma made this... that totally explains how suspicious it looks. I really want to just ignore it... but there's no way I can do that.' He'll look at anything that might be a clue to getting out of here, no matter what it is. With Sonia looking by his side, Hajime started flipping through the pages.